


Bone Weary

by The_Last_Kenobi



Series: Whumptober 2020 [23]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, CC-2224 | Cody Needs a Hug, Dehydration, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, POV CC-2224 | Cody, Sleep Deprivation, Sleep deprivation is a nightmare, Whump, Whumptober 2020, heck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27201439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Last_Kenobi/pseuds/The_Last_Kenobi
Summary: General Kenobi, Commander Cody, and Commander Tano are separated from their division and crash-land on a barren moon.They've been walking for nine days straight.They left "tired" behind a long time ago.Written for Whumptober 2020Day 23 - Exhaustion
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Ahsoka Tano, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano
Series: Whumptober 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956463
Comments: 27
Kudos: 126





	Bone Weary

Cody had been tired before.

He was rarely _not_ tired, come to think of it. The war was taxing on everyone involved, and the _vode_ and the Jedi most of all. And if he allowed himself to be honest – and a little bitter – the 212th took the brunt of it much more often that most.

Windu’s unit might offer up some competition in that department, and the famous 501st was a close second, but…

The 212th took a lot of _osik_.

But Cody had never in his life been as tired as he was now, and out of the trio, he was the only one who wasn’t A) unconscious or B) carrying another person on their back.

Wiping his brow for the hundredth time that day, the Clone Commander looked sideways at the two others stuck in this mess with him.

General Kenobi looked about as bad as Cody felt, pale and haggard and red-eyed.

He was carrying Commander Tano on his back, her torso over his shoulder, and if she were awake, she’d look as bad as Kenobi and Cody.

Tano had collapsed two hours previous and hadn’t so much as twitched since.

She almost looked dead.

But she wasn’t, Cody reminded himself. Couldn’t be. The General would never let that happen, and he would’ve said something, at least.

Prior to her collapse, they’d all been awake for over nine days straight.

No sleep. No rest. Hardly a moment to breathe.

In fact, they had barely stopped moving the entire week and a half, constantly trekking—trekking upwards.

Cody’s joints didn’t feel _real_ , anymore. At some point on the third day they’d throbbed and twinged horribly, especially his knees and ankles, and then sometime around the sixth day they’d started to feel mushy and disjointed, like they were made of fluffy candy instead of muscle and bone.

They still felt that way, when he could feel them at all.

The bottoms of his feet burned and the arches felt permanently pinched.

His shoulders ached no matter how he held them. The pain kept him wanting to bow his head—the steady migraine ensured that he did.

Cody wondered if that was true for the General. Kenobi wasn’t baseline human, but he was less…different…than Cody himself was. Probably. He didn’t dare ask.

The General had been struggling to breathe ever since he picked up Ahsoka.

“Night coming,” Cody said hoarsely.

The General nodded, pausing just long enough to adjust Ahsoka’s weight across his shoulder.

Cody longed to offer to take over, but he knew Obi-Wan would refuse.

He had every time before.

Night was coming. The rising and setting of the sun were the only time markers they still observed. There was no point in anything else; they ate minute portions of their meager supplies when dawn broke and night fell, and stopped for water when they were desperate, and no sooner.

Cody was desperate right now, but not for water—well, not as much as the other thing.

What the Commander wanted, truly, frantically wanted was for rescue to come.

Now.

They just couldn’t…last much longer.

They couldn’t.

One step at a time, though, as they had for the last two weeks.

Left foot…

Right foot…

Left…

Right…

Left…

Right…

Left…

Right…

Obi-Wan hit the ground so quickly that it took Cody several long, dizzying seconds of staring blankly at his collapsed form to realize what had happened. Then he reeled and stumbled his way to the Jedi’s side and gently heaved Ahsoka so that her head was in his lap and then turned the General over.

For some reason, Cody had been expecting the man to look worse, but he looked the same as he had for the past few days—like death warmed over—except this time his eyes were closed.

“General,” Cody rasped. “General, wake up.”

No response.

“General Kenobi,” he said, and this time he felt something inside his throat or perhaps his mouth break, and he tasted blood.

Cody patted his General’s face clumsily, trying to keep his hand from shaking.

The Jedi didn’t so much as twitch.

“No, no,” Cody mumbled, starting to shake. “No, sir, we have to keep moving. _Gedet’ye_ , General, wake up— _haar’chak_ , Obi-Wan, wake up!”

The General’s eyes fluttered open—a tiny smile curved the man’s lips, and then he slipped back to unconsciousness. Cody cradled Ahsoka with one arm and his General with the other.

He tilted his head back to the sky painted harshly with the colors of a desert-planet sunset and prayed to the stars he couldn’t see.

There was hope.

He unscrewed their water canteen and gently poured small amounts down each of their throats, making sure they swallowed.

Cody focused on his breathing.

In…

Out…

In…

Out…

In…

* * *

Two days later, Anakin Skywalker and the 501st found Obi-Wan, Cody, and Ahsoka _exactly_ where they had fallen. Sleep deprived, dehydrated, malnourished, and sporting injuries consistent with their crash.

Cody and Obi-Wan were sitting side by side, leaning on one another, their heads tilted together and bowed away from the blazing sun. Ahsoka was curled in their laps, sheltered from the heat.

Not one of them was breathing.


End file.
